China High-Temperature Etch Tray Manufacturers, Suppliers, Factory

A diffusion furnace is a specialized piece of equipment used to introduce impurities into semiconductor wafers in a controlled manner. These impurities, called dopants, change the electrical properties of semiconductors, allowing different types of electronic components to be made. This controlled diffusion process is critical to the production of transistors, diodes and integrated circuits.

Silicon Carbide (SiC) has emerged as a key material in the field of semiconductor technology, offering exceptional properties that make it highly desirable for various electronic and optoelectronic applications. The production of high-quality SiC single crystals is crucial for advancing the capabilities of devices such as power electronics, LEDs, and high-frequency devices. In this article, we delve into the significance of porous graphite in the Physical Vapor Transport (PVT) method for 4H-SiC single crystal growth.

The history of silicon carbide (SiC) dates back to 1891, when Edward Goodrich Acheson accidentally discovered it while attempting to synthesize artificial diamonds. Acheson heated a mixture of clay (aluminosilicate) and powdered coke (carbon) in an electric furnace. Instead of the expected diamonds, he obtained a bright green crystal adhering to the carbon. This crystal had a hardness second only to diamond, and was thus named carborundum. In 1904, French-Jewish chemist Henri Moissan discovered rare natural silicon carbide minerals while studying meteorite samples from the Diablo Canyon in Arizona, USA. He named these minerals moissanite, and his discovery earned him the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

SiC MOSFETs are transistors that offer high power density, improved efficiency, and low failure rates at high temperatures. These advantages of SiC MOSFETs bring numerous benefits to electric vehicles (EVs), including longer driving range, faster charging, and potentially lower cost battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Over the past five years, SiC MOSFETs have been widely used in the power electronics of EVs in vehicles from OEMs such as Tesla and Hyundai. In fact, SiC inverters accounted for 28% of the BEV market in 2023.

Within the silicon carbide (SiC) industry chain, substrate suppliers hold significant leverage, primarily due to value distribution. SiC substrates account for 47% of the total value, followed by epitaxial layers at 23%, while device design and manufacturing constitute the remaining 30%. This inverted value chain stems from the high technological barriers inherent to substrate and epitaxial layer production. Three major challenges plague SiC substrate growth: stringent growth conditions, slow growth rates, and demanding crystallographic requirements. These complexities contribute to increased processing difficulty, ultimately resulting in low product yields and high costs. Furthermore, the epitaxial layer’s thickness and doping concentration are critical parameters directly impacting the final device performance.

The single crystal growth furnace is composed of six key systems that work in harmony to ensure efficient and high-quality crystal growth.